The Grey-Shepherd Method

A Hard Day's Night

I might actually kill him.

That was Meredith's first thought as she woke up on her mother's couch, in her mother's living room, naked. Even though they had lived there for nearly two weeks now and her mother hadn't lived there in nearly four years, it was always going to be her mother's house.

The he in question was sprawled out on the living room floor, also naked, lying face down but had a blanket covering him.

Leaning down, she snatched the blanket off of him, exposing him to the elements before grabbing a throw cushion and throwing it onto his bare bottom, startling him awake.

"We have to get up," She told him as he blinked up at her wearily.

With a smirk, he reached out to grab his pants, "Why don't you just come back down here and we'll pick up where we left off?"

"No Derek, I'm late. You have to get up, now."

"You're not late."

"I will be if you don't get up. It's my first day of work. Just because you don't have to go in until later, doesn't mean I get to," She told him firmly, ignoring the growing need. She watched as he stood up, buttoning up his pants and glancing around the room.

"You know, this place really needs a good cleaning. Look at all the dust. If we're going to live here, it can't stay packed away forever."

She shot him a look, telling him that she already knew that but that wasn't going to make her do it any quicker. "It was my mother's house, you know that. You know what?" She decided. "We don't have to do the thing."

"What thing? We can do anything you want," He looked at her suggestively which she shot down quickly with a look.

"I'm gonna go upstairs and shower, okay? And when I get back down here, you won't be down here wandering around half naked, got it?" It was really distracting.

"I could use a shower."

"You could use a shower, after I've left, not before, after." He still hadn't seemed to budge on the idea that was floating around his mind. "Derek."

"Meredith," He mocked her back, laughing as she rolled her eyes and turned around to storm back up the stairs.

"I mean it!" She shouted back down them at him.

000

Pulling the door shut behind her, Meredith looked down to the driveway where their two cars sat. He old beat-up jeep sat next to his fancy Porsche and she had to laugh at the contrast between the two cars. The two cars almost represented them somehow.

Derek had been nagging her to get a new car for years, he was terrified that her jeep was going to get her killed somehow. Heck, he had even offered to buy her a new car countless times but she refused to budge on the issue.

She had saved up all her own money to buy the car herself, she wasn't going to budge anytime soon unless the car really did kill her one day.

The engine took a little longer than it should to start up as she chucked her purse into the passengers seat and put it into reverse, slowly pulling out of the driveway before beginning the twenty minute drive towards the hospital.

000

She was late and she knew it as she made her way down the hallways to the OR where the rest of the interns were.

As Meredith entered the room, she could hear Richard starting his speech that he had used probably hundreds of times.

"Each of you comes here today hopeful, wanting in on the game. A month ago, you were in med school, being taught by doctors. Today... you are the doctors." As she entered the room, she couldn't help but notice the look Richard shot her as she smiled sheepishly. "The seven years you spend here as a surgical resident will be the best and worst of you life. You will be pushed to the breaking point. Look around you. Say hello to your competition."